Perma.cc: Archiving URLs for Law Review Citations: About Perma

This guide provides complete instructions for law review staff who use Perma.  It also explains how to recognize other types of permanent links, such as DOI and Handle URLs.

These papers and articles help explain why permanent URLs are particularly important in scholarly and legal citations.

What does Perma do?

•  Perma creates a permanent, archived version of a website and assigns a permanent URL to that archived version.

When should I use Perma?

• Use Perma when citing to ephemeral material on the Internet, such as websites, blogs, or working papers – any website that does not already use another form of permanent URL.

How do I access Perma?

• Go to http://perma.cc and log in.
• If you do not have a Perma account, contact an existing Perma User from your journal. The journal’s existing Users can set up new User accounts for the journal. All Users can then create Perma links on behalf of the journal. If your journal does not have any Users, contact Sherry Leysen at the law library to set up your journal's Perma account.

How do I use Perma?

• For complete instructions, download the document "Creating Perma.cc Links for Law Review Citations" from the box in the upper left.

How do I cite to a Perma link?

• The 21st Edition of the Bluebook provides guidance for including Perma links in citations. Rule 18.2.1(d) instructs to “append the archive URL to the full citation in brackets,” with the following example:
  
  Letter from Rose M. Oswald Poels, President/CEO, Wis. Bankers Ass’n, to Elizabeth M. Murphy, Sec’y, SEC (Sept. 17, 2013), http://www.sec.gov/comments/s7-03-13/s70313-178.pdf [http://perma.cc/B7Z7D9DJ].

Account Problems

• If your account has been created but you never received the confirmation email, check your spam folder.
• If you need further assistance related to Perma accounts, contact Sherry in the law library.

Thank you to Nick Szydlowski at Boston College for providing the template for this guide.

This guide was originally created by Cheryl Kelly Fischer, updated and edited by Rachel Green, and is now maintained by Sherry Leysen.